After One Year, YouTube Red Has Just 1.5m Subscribers

On top of that, there are 1m users signed up for a free trial, totalling 2.5m out of YouTube's total 1bn-plus users.

It's also worth noting that these subscriptions include YouTube Music, the premium version of which is included as part of the $9.99 package.

The figures come from The Verge, citing multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, and are accurate as of 'late summer'.

YouTube told the publication it was happy with the service's growth. “We’re pleased with momentum behind YouTube Red and we’re seeing healthy growth of members each month,” said a spokesperson.

It also pointed out that Red isn't available globally, having only rolled out in four markets – the US, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Red subscribers are also apparently the biggest users of YouTube – in particular on connected TVs, where they watch 75 per cent more videos than average.